Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Colorful Skeleton Earrings using Tim Holtz Findings

This week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme is an interesting one!  It's "get in shape."  That phrase, for me, evokes images of me dying on the stair-stepper machine while people in their 20's walk past in their fancy yoga pants barely breaking a sweat.  But don't worry!  In this week's context, it just means to try and incorporate unique shapes into your projects (no squares or rectangles).  Thinking about organic shapes, my mind wandered to jewelry.  I made some colorful skeleton earrings using different shaped beads and findings.

The bodies of these characters started out as white clay.  I formed the clay into thick shapes that sort of tapered at the top.  While the clay was still malleable, I used Tim Holtz's tack nails to attach red and turquoise beads.  When the clay hardened, the tacks and beads stayed attached.

Now that the clay was hard, I colored it with alcohol ink in shades of yellow, green, and teal.  When the alcohol ink was dry, I covered the beads with a shiny glaze/sealant.

I switched out the wires with a different kind that had a loop on the bottom.  I attached a bead at the base of each earring.  To add some visual and textural interest, I cut numbers out of Tim's Multi Collage fabric and glued those to the front of each bead.

Next I added beads to Tim's Loop Pins and then attached those to the bottom of each earring.  I had a thin piece of metal that I painted white and added black stripes to using a Posca paint pen.

I cut the striped metal into smaller shapes, punched a hole in them, and added them to the loop at the bottom of each earring.  The loop ended up being too small for that many elements, so I replaced the whole pin with a longer one and made the base loop bigger.  Lastly, I found some skeleton head beads in my stash and added one to the top of each pin.  I attached some earring hooks and these were done!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Tim Holtz Tack Nails
• Alcohol Ink: Limeade, Sunshine, Lemonade, Patina
• Tim Holtz Multi Collage Fabric
• Tim Holtz Loop Pins
• Black Posca Paint Pen

We're excited to see your shapely projects this week!   Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Store!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Layered "Here" Tag using Seth Apter's EM142 and EM124 Stamps

Our theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to layer it up.  I love layering -- maybe a little too much!  This one turned out a little crazy and the elements I use along the way always seem to get covered up by the end, so I wonder why I even include process pictures.  But I do enjoy playing with paper bits and scraps and scribbling on stuff!

I started by stamping this image from Seth Apter (EM142) in red ink and then I grabbed some painted collage scraps I had.

I stamped some numbers from Tim Holtz and cut a tag shape out of kraft cardstock using a Simon die.  I decided to fold my tag, so that's where the lines came from for some added texture.  Then I punched some holes in a collage scrap and glued that to my stamped image.  I added paint.

Next I added more stamping and scribbling to the tag.

I glued all the layers on top of each other and added some fabric scraps.  I also cut out a few pieces of patterned paper and added those on.  Then I cut a circular frame and stamped some text onto it from a Simon stamp set.

To finish it off, I glued the frame to the tag and added a yearbook photo and the word "here".  School started this week in my area and I was thinking about how the teachers call roll and students say "here" or "present" or whatever else they say to prove they're alive and paying attention enough to answer.  Good times!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Seth Apter Stamps: EM142, EM124
• Tim Holtz Deconstructed Stamp Set
• Simon Says Stamp Luggage Tags Die Set
• Tim Holtz Glitch 1 Stamp Set
• Simon's Heart Suite Stamp Set
• Tim Holtz Cello Tape
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks 5
• Amy Tangerine Paper Play Book
• Odile Bailloeul Festival Fat Quarter Bundle
• Watercolors
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink
• Distress Ink: Festive Berries

Let's see your layers this week!  Upload your layered creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Shell Card using Tim Holtz's Nautical Blueprint Stamp Set

We have a great theme this week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog: on/under the sea.  I decided to use this particular seashell stamp from Tim Holtz because it reminds me of a shell my grandma gave to me and my brother when we were little.  Being kids, I guess we thought it would be fun to see what random objects would fit inside the shell.  Long story short, this shell remains on my bookcase decades later with a colorful spinning top permanently wedged inside it.  Though the details of who did what in that incident have gotten hazy over the years (or maybe it's selective memory), I love that shell with the little plastic top stuck inside!

I made a collaged background panel, then stamped the shell on a white piece of paper.  I colored it with Distress Watercolor Pencils, then cut a frame shape with AALL & Create's Driplight die.  I painted the frame, then I found a quote from Dina Wakley's ledger paper pages and cut that out to add to the card.  

For another layer, I cut a piece of kraft cardstock for the base of the card and trimmed the edges with Tim Holtz's Deckle Edge Trimmer.  I glued the collaged panel on top of that, then added the shell, frame and quote.  I flicked on some Dina Wakley Media Gloss to finish it off.

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• Tim Holtz Nautical Blueprint
• StencilGirl 70's Textile Design Stencil
• AALL & Create's Driplight Die
• Dina Wakley Ledger 2 Paper
• Tim Holtz Deckle Edge Trimmer
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set 4
• Dina Wakley Media Watery Gloss Dropper
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Ranger Jet Black Archival Ink

We're excited to see your interpretation of the on/under the sea theme.  Upload your creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Tag using AALL & Create's Miss Dee on Crafting

 Welcome to another Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge!  This week's theme is "punny/funny," which I think is an entertaining one.  I decided to use a quote from AALL & Create that made me smile.  There's actually a lot of truth in those words!

I started by making a painted and stamped collage.

While that dried, I made a second collage in a different color palette.

I cut the blue collage into a tag shape and cut the orange collage into a card shape which I punched some circles out of.  Then I glued the orange card to the blue tag.

This combo was looking iffy, so I added some other paint and stamped some more Tim Holtz images to the front.  Then I grabbed some paper scraps from the Paper Play book, cut circles out of one piece, and added scraps to the top and bottom.

I glued the panel to the side, then stamped my sentiment, cut it into strips and stuck it on the front to finish out my tag.

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• AALL & Create Miss Dee on Crafting Stamp Set
• Simon Says Stamp Luggage Tags Die Set
• Tim Holtz Deconstructed Stamp Set
• Archival Ink: Crushed Olive, Jet Black
• Watercolors
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Paper Play Book
• Dina Wakley Scribble Sticks 5
• Mama Elephant Artist Trading Card Die Set
• We R Makers Layered Circles Punch Set
• Distress Watercolor Pencils, Set #5

We'd love to see your punny/funny creations!  Upload them to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Happy Birthday Tag using Kate Crane's KCM023 Stamp

Happy 16th Birthday to Simon Says Stamp!  To honor that impressive milestone, "Happy Birthday" is this week's Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge theme.  We're also featuring products from Paper Artsy.  Seth Apter and Kate Crane, both of whom I really like, have designed stamp sets for Paper Artsy.  I've used some of their stamps on my birthday tag.

I started by cutting a tag shape using AALL & Create's Hexalove tag die set.  Then I stamped some of Seth Apter's circle images (from ESA35) onto the tag to form a pattern.

I added paint and patterned paper to the circles and did some additional stamping (the small dots are from Seth's EM124 set).  Before long, my tag looked like this:

I chose one of Kate Crane's stamps (KCM 023) for the focal point and colored the image with Distress Watercolor Pencils.

I added her to the front of the tag and then did some more scribbling, stamping, and painting around.  I stamped the sentiment, cut it out, and glued it to the bottom.  Since we are celebrating Simon's 16th year, I stamped a "16" on a piece of paper, cut it, and added it to my girl.  Happy Birthday, Simon!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• AALL & Create Hexalove Tag Die Set
• Paper Artsy Seth Apter Stamps: ESA35 (big circles), EM124 (small dots), ESA34 (background text)
• Paper Artsy Kate Crane Stamp (KCM023)
• Watercolors
• Dylusions Paint
• Dina Wakley Paint
• Ranger Archival Ink: Crushed Olive and Jet Black
• Distress Watercolor Pencils: Set 4
• Dina Wakley Media Soft Bristle Brush Set

Upload your birthday creations to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a special $50  voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store!

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge: Mini Mixed Media Pages using Brutus Monroe Grunge Type Creative Cards

We are getting stitchy this week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!  Yes - just incorporate any sort of stitching and you'll hit the challenge theme.  I made some mini journal pages with stitched elements here and there.

I started with this mini notebook, which I made from chipboard and then bound.  I collaged on both pages.

Next I cut out a number 4 from Brutus Monroe's Grunge Type Creative cards as well as some circles (negative and positive shapes) from AALL & Create's Film Drip die set.  I painted the circles and frames.  I also tore out a scrap of patterned paper from Amy Tangerine's Paper Play book and sewed across it with my sewing machine.

I attached the 4 to my page and did some scribbling around it with Distress Watercolor Pencils.

Last week, I made some earrings that were made with fabric scraps.  I decided to use some of those leftover fabric scraps and incorporate them into my pages.  I glued some fabric onto the page on the left and sewed some fabric scraps together for the page on the right.  I attached my little fabric scrap bundle with a loop pin.

On a secret project disaster sidenote here, notice how the 4 is totally ripped and wrinkled in the finished project versus how it was in the previous photo.  I had glued it on crooked and it was driving me nuts, so I tried to rip it off the page and re-glue it.  But the glue won and I ended up with a bit of a ripped mess that I had to try to piece back together.  But it all worked out in the end!

Here are the supplies I used that you can find at Simon Says Stamp:

• AALL & Create: Film Drip Die Set
• Tim Holtz THMM113 Dot Stencil and Stamp Set
• Amy Tangerine's Paper Play Book
• Brutus Monroe Grunge Type Creative Cards
• Distress Watercolor Pencils: Set 2 and Set 3
• Tim Holtz Multi Collage Eclectic Elements Fabric
• Odile Bailloeul Festiva Fabric Bundle
• Tim Holtz Loop Pin
• Dina Wakley Paint

We're excited to see how you incorporate stitching into your projects!  Upload them to the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for your chance to win a $25 voucher to the Simon Says Stamp store.